Stories for July 15th 2010

Uruguay’s leading newspaper dedicated its Sunday’s editorial to the recent incident when the Argentine Navy, in shared Uruguayan-Argentine waters, forced a small merchant vessel linked to the Falklands/Malvinas Islands to identify itself and provide all the information related to cargo and destination.

Mercosur full member Paraguay is now between the world’s eight top exporters of beef, with prospects of increasing that position as meat quality increases boosted by improved breeding and better sanitary conditions.

US trade deficit widened to its highest level in 18 months in May, driven by demand for imported cars, computers and clothing. The deficit increased by 4.8% to 42.3 billion US dollars, the largest since November 2008, Commerce Department data showed.

Widely considered a Mecca for astronomy, Chile has further assured its world prominence in the field of astronomy with a new law that will set aside land specifically for astronomical observation for the next 50 years.

A new US assessment of Venezuela's oil reserves could give the country double the supplies of Saudi Arabia. Scientists working for the US Geological Survey say Venezuela's Orinoco belt region holds twice as much as previously thought.